I'm asking from the time period of 1500 to present in the evolution of personal identification.

Did this ever take place? Where? What time period was this in effect? Why did it end? Under what circumstances did a church grant sanctuary? Was it indefinite? To what lengths would a church go to protect the individual or abed their escape? Did the secular authority ever violate a church's declaration of sanctuary for somebody? Did any individuals of historical significance ever seek sanctuary? I could go on, but I'll leave it at these questions...

So I just finished reading "A Frozen Hell" by William Trotter, an account of the Winter War. While reading it, the author describes the military movements of both the Soviet and Finnish troops usually by saying Xth Division moved from Place A to Place B. Or something similar,where he simply notes cities, movements and whatnot. While I was reading it, I was overwhelmed with the names and the information. Keeping track of which division moved where was near impossible. (The Finnish names didn't help though)

My question, is what is the best way to keep track of such information? I've encountered a similar situation when reading "Face of Battle" by Keegan. An overload of places and troop movements. How does one keep track of it, or is unnecessary to understand the bigger picture?

I'm looking for battles, how they were fought, and basically who had power when, why, and how it helped/hindered development of the region. This stuff is interesting to me, for whatever reason.

Did the Romans really drive a plant species to extinction based on its contraceptive qualities? Are there any primary sources that corroborate this? Is it possible to know if the plant was effective?

How prevalent was abortion? How was abortion handled?

Thank you!

From what I understand, the Ottomans enjoyed heavy numerical superiority throughout the war. Why weren't they able to take the Suez and allow the momentum to carry them through North Africa? Were there any opportunities they could have taken that would allow them to come out on top?

With no electronic media and even mass produce books still a novelty, how did the common people and the elite entertain them self in the 16th century? How expensive were plays, how often would a circus pass through a town or village. Did mass produced board games still exist?

I know the repeating rifle was available in the mid 1800s. However from my understanding the bolt action rifle was the weapon of choice in WW1.

The repeating rifle can be reloaded without taking your hands to far from the trigger whereas the bolt action certainly requires moving your hand away from the trigger.

It just seems that the repeating rifle could have been more effective but faded from popularity.

There is a common trend on reddit and the internet as a whole to paint Edison as a complete dick(for lack of better word) and a generally horrible person. Most of this comes from less than reputable historical sources like The Oatmeal and cracked. Is there any truth to this?

Also, there is the famous story about Edison offering Tesla the modern equivalent of $1,000,000 to fix some problems with his DC generators. The story goes that Tesla did this and Edison replied "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor" when asked for his money.

Is there any truth behind this? The story seems absurd and impossible.

Is this true? I've never heard of women working on California railroads, and her description seems vaguely racist, as it was an example of how East Asian peoples are "particularly gracile".

During the Roman Empire there were slaves taken from all over but then during the Middle Ages, there was feudalism - which can be seen as slavery without the buying and selling of people as property. From feudalism it transformed into bastard feudalism where they charged people rent to work the land.

Why would the landowners decide that feudalism was a better economic option than slavery?

Obviously, at the time of Jesus' Crucifixion, newly converted Christians were being actively hunted and persecuted. But in the ~100 years, how were they able to pick up the pieces and how did Christianity take root and spread to Rome, to the point that Catholics are known as Roman Catholics?

Note: I'm not asking about Church teachings or anything. I was raised Catholic and have never really learned about the gap between Jesus' death and current times.

Whenever I watch a movie involving fight scenes with muskets and black powder weapons I cant believe how inefficient the whole thing seems.

Couldn't you just charge a mass of soldiers with axes and spears into another with muskets? They may get one shot off but after that you would think it would be game over for the muskets?

Apologies if this is a development to recent to be answered by /r/askhistorians. Didn't seem to be anything asked about this when I searched for it.